xavier montsalvatge

43 Pages·2012·3.86 MB·English

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S MONTSALVATGE
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SIMFONIA DE RÈQUIEM
CALIDOSCOPI SIMFÒNIC
CINCO CANCIONES NEGRAS
PARTITA 1958
RUBY HUGHES
SOPRANO
CLARA MOURIZ
MEZZO-SOPRANO
BBC PHILHARMONIC
JUANJO MENA
ht Music & Arts Photo Library
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© Le
Xavier Montsalvatge
Xavier Montsalvatge
(1912 – 2002)
Partita 1958 16:40
1 I Fanfare. Avec allegresse et dureté 1:38
2 II Sarabande. Délicat – Plus animé – Tempo I – Tempo I 5:31
3 III Intermezzo. Passioné – Plus calme – Tempo I 5:30
4 IV Final. Entraînant – Solennel 3:58
Cinco Canciones Negras* 12:14
(Five Negro Songs)
for Medium Voice and Orchestra
5 1 Cuba dentro de un piano (Cuba in a piano). Lento – Rubato –
Lento – Rubato – Lento – Rubato – Lento – Rubato – Lento –
Rubato (Molto lento) – Violento e rapido – Calmando (lento) 4:30
6 2 Punto de Habanera (Habanera rhythm). Tempo de guajiras –
A tempo – Coda a tempo 1:48
7 3 Chévere (The dandy). Lentissimo 1:58
8 4 Canción de Cuna para Dormir a un Negrito (Lullaby for a
little black boy). Lento 2:28
9 5 Canto Negro (Negro song). Leggiero 1:17
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premiere recording
Calidoscopi simfònic, Op. 61 15:59
Quatre moviments de ballet
10 I Introducció. Moderato 3:03
11 II Ronda i Pantomima. Allegretto mosso – Meno mosso –
Poco più (come prima) 4:52
12 III Cànon i Havanera. Allegretto deciso – Meno mosso –
Semplice – Tempo d’havanera 4:26
13 IV Final ‘a la Indiana’. Andante ritmico – Poco meno – Tempo I 3:30
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Simfonia de Rèquiem† 22:38
14 I Introitus. Andante moderato – Poco più sostenuto –
Tempo I (Andante moderato) 3:17
15 II Kyrie. Andante doloroso 3:43
16 III Dies irae. Allegretto con brio – Poco meno mosso –
Moderato ritenuto – Tempo I (Allegretto con brio) 3:46
17 IV Agnus Dei. Adagietto 3:34
18 V Lux æterna. Andante moderato 4:30
19 VI Libera me, Domine. Moderato solenne, molto tenuto 3:46
TT 68:00
Ruby Hughes soprano†
Clara Mouriz mezzo-soprano*
BBC Philharmonic
Yuri Torchinsky leader
Juanjo Mena
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Montsalvatge:
Orchestral Works
Most of the Spanish music regularly delighted in presenting its characteristic
performed in concert halls throughout the rhythm as an item of Andalusian local colour,
world today was inspired by the flamenco the habanera did not originate in Andalusia
songs and dances of Andalusia. Not all the or anywhere else in Spain. As its name
composers represented were native to the suggests, the habanera came to Spain by
region – although the two most prominent way of Cuba, where it had grown out of
among them, Manuel de Falla and Joaquín the racial mix of the African, European and
Turina, certainly were – but the vitality and native Indian populations in the first half
the exotic appeal of flamenco were difficult of the nineteenth century. After the war of
to resist even for those from regions of independence at the end of the century many
Spain with their own language and their of the Catalans who had emigrated to Cuba
own distinctive culture. Isaac Albéniz, who came back home, bringing their Caribbean
was born in Girona but took little interest in music with them. In the 1940s Montsalvatge,
Catalan folksong, devoting much the larger who had by now completed a distinguished
part of his magnum opus Iberia to the music career at the Barcelona Conservatory and
of Andalusia, is the foremost example. was already gathering a reputation as a
Xavier Montsalvatge (1912 – 2002), the composer, toured the Costa Brava collecting
100th anniversary of whose birth in Girona is surviving examples of this fascinating
marked by the issue of this CD, remained true tradition. He published a selection of them in
to his Catalan roots. His attachment to the his Album de habaneras in 1948.
habanera might seem to contradict that: the
most famous example of all was arranged by Partita 1958
Bizet for his gypsy heroine in Carmen and, in Montsalvatge was encouraged in his interest
consequence, the habanera is inseparably in Latin-American music by his admiration for
associated with Seville. But, in spite of the the French composer Darius Milhaud, who
persistence of later French composers, from had discovered the intoxicating rhythms
Saint-Saëns to Debussy and Ravel, who of Brazilian popular music during the First
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World War and had introduced them into his chords return to recall both the string theme
own compositions with sensational effect and woodwind melody and appear for the
in the 1920s. The influence Milhaud had on last time after an attenuated closing episode
Montsalvatge was not so much rhythmic, featuring solo violin and cello.
however, as harmonic. That much is clear from The one movement of the Partita which
the first movement of the Catalan composer’s seems to have found inspiration in Andalusia
Partita 1958, which in its title proudly displays is the ‘Intermezzo’. Here, according to the
the year in which it won the Oscar Esplà Prize. composer, there is a ‘reminiscence of Hispano-
The dissonant harmonies of the ‘Fanfare’ which Arabic song’, which suggests a derivation
opens the work are a direct and entertaining from the cante jondo of southern Spain.
response to Milhaud’s distinctive use of Certainly, there is no lack of passion in the
polytonality (several keys at once) and signal near-recitative of the strings in the opening
an allegiance not only to Milhaud but also to bars or of soulful melody on the entry of the
fellow-members of the Parisian ‘Groupe des cor anglais. Strangely, however, this gives
Six’ and their hero figure, Erik Satie. way after a climax to a stylish neoclassical
At the same time, as Montsalvatge has gesture in the form of a sort of gavotte
remarked, the Partita is ‘not entirely unrelated beginning in counterpoint on the strings and
to classicism’. But nor is it an entirely eventually involving the whole orchestra.
characteristic work of mid-twentieth century The last movement is another neoclassical
neoclassicism. The second movement, enterprise. Marked entraînant (brisk), it sets
‘Sarabande’, is not a revival of the form as we off purposefully as a fugue for strings with a
know it from baroque instrumental suites but counter-subject entering on brass at an early
an expressive allusion to the dance which, stage. Although it never becomes an actual
like the habanera, came to Spain from Latin fugue, it is a brilliant example of contrapuntal
America. The opening section alternates writing and imaginative scoring, including
modally harmonised woodwind melody with a passage for percussion alone and ending
a group of five bitonal chords presented by a with a massively augmented version of the
distant ensemble of crotales, harp and piano. fugue theme.
A new theme is urgently presented by strings
before the intervention of a quicker and more Cinco Canciones Negras
aggressive middle section. The percussion Perhaps the most seductive and certainly
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the best-known product of Montsalvatge’s most forms of music for the concert
enthusiasm for the Caribbean-Catalan treasury hall, Montsalvatge completed more than
of song is the Cinco Canciones Negras (Five twenty ballets. Calidoscopi simfònic: quatre
Negro Songs), which was written originally moviments de ballet derives from an early,
for voice and piano in 1946 and arranged for unfinished ballet, El Angel de la Guarda
orchestra three years later. The emblematic (The Guardian Angel), the material of which
rhythm of the habanera echoes throughout was first reworked as an orchestral suite
the first song in the set, ‘Cuba dentro de un under the Spanish title of Calidoscopio in
piano’. Indolently reflecting the poet’s nostalgia 1955. The recycled score was then lost,
for the old Cuba, it admits an expression of rediscovered decades later, revised and
anti-American anger just at the end as the reintroduced under its present Catalan title
Spanish ‘Sí’ is displaced by ‘Yes’. ‘Punto de in 2001. Complete with an impressionistically
Habanera’ is not in habanera rhythm: it would evocative introduction, including a handsome
suit the title of the song, obviously, but the horn solo, it is irresistible evidence of
quajiras with its alternating bars of 6 / 8 and Monsalvatge’s genius as a ballet composer.
3 / 4 is better suited to the flirtatious gait of The rhythmically busy first half of ‘Ronda i
the Creole girl as she walks past the admiring Pantomima’ is followed by a mime episode
sailors in her white crinoline. The hard-edged with comic woodwind entries and a deliciously
response of the composer to the surreal discordant duet for flutes in parallel major
visions in ‘Chévere’ most effectively offsets his seconds. The next movement is similarly divided
setting of ‘Canción de Cuna para Dormira a un into two contrasting parts: the first offers a
Negrito’, which is not only the most popular item vigorous contrapuntal work-out, the second
in the set but also, with its caressing harmonies a delightfully affectionate caricature of the
and its gently rocking version of the habanera composer’s favourite dance form with witty
rhythm, one of the tenderest lullabies in the solo strings and teasing harmonic distortions.
repertoire. In vivid contrast, ‘Canto Negro’ is ‘Final “a la indiana’’’ is an uninhibited celebration
an exhilarating celebration of the rumba-like of primitive rhythms in quintuple time with
rhythm of the yambo. thudding percussion, snarling trombones and
vociferous trumpets in the outer sections and a
Calidoscopi simfònic characteristically melodious cor anglais in the
As well as being a prolific composer of slower middle section.
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Simfonia de Rèquiem without a break on the crescendo at the end
In spite of his fertile creativity, Montsalvatge of the Dies irae, the Agnus Dei begins its
never wrote a mass and never wrote a prayer for forgiveness with a solo viola and
symphony. In 1985, however, he combined the flowing melody which, in association with
the two by conceiving a symphonic version of bright piano colouring (owing a little to Olivier
the Requiem Mass, the Simfonia de Rèquiem, Messiaen), presents such a contrast with the
which would have no words and no voices preceding movement. The radiance of Lux
until the very end of the last movement. ‘I aeterna is suggested partly by the very quiet
intended’, he has said, string sounds with ecstatic glissandi and
to ignore the orthodox religious aspect partly by the delicate scoring for piano and
and to concentrate on bringing out its tuned percussion. Another crescendo leads
profound, forceful message, which is both directly into the solemn splendour of the
sad and sublime, solely by means of the Libera me where a brass fanfare introduces
orchestra. the solo soprano and her final prayer for
But he did not do it without reference to peace.
Gregorian chant, an allusion to which on
© 2012 Gerald Larner
woodwind contributes to establishing
what he calls ‘the calm’ of the Introitus.
The supplicant nature of the Kyrie is A BBC New Generation Artist and Winner of
characterised not only by the slow-moving both First Prize and the Audience Prize at
melodic lines on strings and woodwind but the 2009 Handel Singing Competition, Ruby
also by the jagged rhythms in quintuple time Hughes studied at the Hochschule für Musik
which intervene in the middle section. und Theater, Munich and at London’s Royal
The most dramatic part of the work, as College of Music.
in most settings of the Requiem, is the Dies She made her debut at the Theater an
irae. Based on the familiar chant, which is der Wien in October 2009 singing Roggiero
first heard at an early stage on horns and in Tancredi and returning as Fortuna in
trumpets, it clearly refers to the tribulations L’incoronazione di Poppea. Other companies
of the day of wrath in searingly chromatic with whom she has worked include Buxton
writhing on strings and woodwind and, later, Festival Opera, Classical Opera, the Early
to the dreaded trumpet calls. Following Opera Company, English National Opera,
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Garsington Opera, Lautten Compagney, In 2007 she made a critically acclaimed
Musikfestspiele Potsdam Sanssouci, Wigmore Hall debut, a venue to which she
Musikwerkstatt Wien and The Opera Group. has returned many times, and has since
She also appeared in Jonathan Miller’s confirmed her position as an outstanding
production of Bach’s St Matthew Passion recitalist, appearing regularly with the pianists
at London’s National Theatre. She has also Joseph Middleton and Julius Drake. She
appeared at the Cheltenham, Eisenstadt recently made her debut at the Musée d’Orsay
Haydn, Fishguard, Göttingen, London Handel, in Paris in a duo recital with Dame Felicity
Nuremberg International Chamber Music, Lott, accompanied by Graham Johnson. She
St Endellion and West Cork festivals, among has appeared at the Edinburgh International
others. Festival under Sir Andrew Davis and at
Ruby Hughes has worked with many the Pesaro Rossini Opera Festival and the
eminent conductors including Arie van Beek, Spanish Mozart Festival under Alberto Zedda.
Frieder Bernius, Avner Biron, Douglas Boyd, Clara Mouriz makes frequent broadcasts
Jonathan Cohen, Harry Christophers, Laurence for BBC Radio 3, RTÉ and Radio France with
Cummings, Christian Curnyn, Paul Daniel, Paul orchestras including the BBC Symphony,
Goodwin, HK Gruber, Pablo Heras-Casado, RTÉ National Symphony, BBC Scottish
Philippe Herreweghe, René Jacobs, Robert Symphony and BBC Philharmonic orchestras,
King, Raymond Leppard, Marc Minkowski, Philip as well as the Orquesta Nacional de
Pickett, Daniel Reuss, Pascal Rophé, Andreas España. Her concert highlights include
Spering, Christoph Spering, Johannes Wildner Ravel’s Shéhérazade, Haydn’s Arianna a
and Takuo Yuasa. She also works regularly in Naxos, Canteloube’s Chants d’Auvergne,
recital with Julius Drake. and Berlioz’s Les Nuits d’été and La Mort de
Cléopâtre as well as the Spanish concert
The Spanish mezzo-soprano Clara Mouriz repertoire. Her debut CD is a recital disc of
is rapidly establishing herself as one of the Spanish songs released in 2010.
most exciting artists of her generation. She is
a BBC New Generation Artist, an Independent Widely recognised as one of Britain’s finest
Opera / Wigmore Hall Fellow, and has recently orchestras, the BBC Philharmonic has built
been elected Associate of the Royal Academy an international reputation for outstanding
of Music, her Alma Mater. quality and committed performances over a
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